A Horse of a Different Color

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When it comes to American Muscle Cars, you have your 3 big names: GM, Dodge, and Ford. Then you can break it down to the variety of models made by each: The Camaro, Trans-Am, Charger, ‘Cuda, and then you have the Mustang. From person to person you’ll find differences in where these names rank on a list. I’m not sure when it happened, or why, but before John was enjoying a “casual” drive in one at an airport runway, before Sean was dropping an RB motor in one, before Memphis was boosting one, the Mustang was always my go-to choice for the best muscle car.
(Bonus points if you can name the movies.)
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I saw Tony’s Twister Orange GT500 after a month or so of working at the automotive shop I’m currently employed at. I had just gotten back to the RGV from a getaway trip to Colorado, got ready to start my new job, then shortly after, my literal dream car came in for some pretty serious upgrades. Although my first run-in with it was closer towards the end of its few phases, we’re going to have to rewind a bit to really put things into perspective and appreciate how we got here. Tony got into the whole car thing around 2008 with a solid platform to start on – a 2006 GT Mustang. It didn’t take long until things got pretty serious by introducing forced induction and a cam so it could hit a best of high 10’s (not too shabby for a full weight daily back then)!

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Over the years, the cars came and went. From owning one of the first 8-second 2018 GT Mustangs in the Valley, to switching it up and donning a bowtie after climbing into a C7 Z06 that was slightly modified but never went down the track. As luck would have it, Tony would get back on the blue oval team after falling in love with the newly announced Shelby: “It became a dream car with all its tech.” After spending some time with him at the track and learning about the line-lock feature for burnouts, its built-in track mode, launch features, to say ‘it’s loaded with tech’ would be an understatement. Within his 2 years of owning Ford’s most powerful production Shelby to date, the mods started off simple enough but snowballed into its current setup.

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A few months after bringing it home, the track called – and the GT500 answered. We all know how the story goes from here: Tony got bit. That same night he placed an order for the first mod (and one that most of us all end up adding to a shopping cart first). After installing the CAI and getting more track time, hitting 10’s kickstarted his path to make more power and get down the track faster. For most this platform would be plenty fast – and I’m sure purists out there are upset that something like this would be changed from its original design – but for some of us, factory numbers are just a starting point. After a while of enjoying a stock blower setup, the headers came, then porting the blower, switching to E85 and ultimately we got to where we are now. The first time I met Tony, he was bringing in a perfectly fine (and fast) Shelby to upgrade to a 3.8 Whipple, a triple pump setup, and all the supporting mods to make sure this thing gets down on track nights.

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I knew I wanted to feature this Mustang from the moment I saw it at the shop. Not only because I have a soft spot for them but because of what it symbolized – for me at least. That even at the highest level, some enthusiasts aren’t satisfied with what a car can do in its stock form. I mean, hell, out of the gate this car started at 760 horsepower. And I know most factory cars these days are producing some ridiculous numbers, their 0-60 times are insane, and their ¼ miles times are what most of us were striving for when we first got into all this – and that’s just right off the lot. But even then, there’s always more, there’s always that bit of extra power ready to get unleashed – and a HUGE part of that is because of the people out there who do the research, work the numbers, and develop these parts.

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Featuring vehicles like this is why I started Gear-Trends in the first place – and when I think about the name, it’s pretty ironic cause really I don’t care for most of the latest automotive trends, haha. I won’t go into specifics but those that do know me know what I’m talking about, but I see it happen a lot, and again it’s fine – you get into something or try it on for size and you don’t feel it. That doesn’t make you a fraud or a fake in any way. I see a lot of people mess around with a car for a bit and end up moving onto music, art, or something else – basically another creative outlet that DOES work for them. That’s what all this is about when you really think about it. There’s something that pulls at you to want to create or take things further. There’s this itch to not settle and keep pushing for more. And that right there is what I do this for. It isn’t to look down on the community, it isn’t to pull a Zuckerberg and rate local cars against each other, and it clearly isn’t for any money. It’s to show us that it’s possible to go beyond just throwing on wheels and bags (cheap shot, I am terribly sorry). When it’s all said and done, it’s to showcase vehicles that can remind us to not settle.

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Antonio Torres’s 2020 Ford Shelby GT500

Performance:
3.8 Whipple Supercharger w/ 3.2 Pulley
Kooks 2″ Long Tube Headers w/ Off-Road Lead Pipes
SW 3″ Catback Exhaust
Fore Innovations Triple Fuel Pump System
ID1300x Injectors
Kelltrac Posi Loc kit
Palm Beach Dyno Tuned on E85

Cosmetic:
CF Hood Vents
CF Deck Lid

Interior:
CF Center Console

Rollers:
Signature Wheels Drag Pack:
20×8″ Front || 18×11″ Rear
Nitto 555G2 — 235/35/20 Front
Mickey Thompson ET Street R — 325/35/18 Rear

Stiff:
G Force Axles
CorteX Vertical Links

Shout Outs:
First my parents for making me into the person I am.
My wife for putting up with all my builds through the years.
My boys at SMS and MPH, and of course the Integrity Boyz for getting this phase of the build complete.

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Photos and Words by : Bobby Villarreal